Eleventh Place
Kumho Ecsta MX


Compared with tire companies that have been in business for more than 100 years (Michelin and Goodyear, for example), Kumho began selling tires in Korea 45 years ago. The company has been selling its rubber in the U.S. since 1966, and its racing tires are well established and competitive in amateur circles. Its highest-performing street tire, though, couldn't keep up here. In every test except dry braking, the MX finished well down the scale.

In the dry tests, the Kumhos felt stable and easy to drive and gave plenty of warning of the approaching traction limit. The tires recovered well once that limit was crossed. They didn't offer much grip (0.92 g versus the best at 0.95), and the time of 30.28 seconds in the dry autocross was 0.62 second slower than the fastest tire. That may not seem like much, but our test course was only 0.3 mile long, and on a longer track, the gap would be commensurately greater.

It was tricky driving the Kumho in the wet, however, because once the tire started sliding, it took seemingly forever to recover and regain traction. Geswein determined it was simply "slippery." That behavior would have been excused if the Kumho had posted fast numbers in the dry, but it didn't. And although the MX—at $136 per—was the third-least-expensive tire in our test, the high score in the price category wasn't enough to regain ground lost in the performance tests. As a side note, Kumho recently introduced a new tire called the Ecsta SPT that offers slightly less performance than the MX but may be quite tempting with a price of $90.

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Tenth Place
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD

Here's a tire that trades off its weaknesses on wet surfaces for outstanding performance on dry ones. The BFGoodrich g-Force gripped so ferociously in the dry that it felt almost like a race tire. It posted the highest lateral acceleration (0.95 g) on the dry skidpad, and it never placed lower than third best in the other dry tests. The g-Force rewarded aggressive driving because its grip level didn't fall off precipitously once it started sliding, as some tires do.

On a wet road, the g-Force is not so forgiving. Once you venture past the limits of adhesion and the tire begins to slide, you get a spooky feeling that resembles driving on ice, that is, you slide for a while before the tire regains grip. Geswein called the g-Force's wet-weather performance "not good" and "easy to overdrive in the wet." It finished last in two out of three wet-track tests.

This result was not a surprise because printed on the side of this tire are the letters "KD," which company employees told us stand for "killer dry." Although this tire was designed to give up some wet performance in return for dry grip, we did find a few other tires that are just as capable in the dry and a lot better in the wet.

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Ninth Place
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A

The Bridgestone performed a lot better in the wet than the BFGoodrich. In two wet tests, the autocross and the skidpad, it placed third. Those were its highest finishes, and for the most part, this tire didn't shine in any one area.

In performance terms, the Bridgestone was midpack. It fell to ninth in the overall ranking because its 140 tread-wear grade was the lowest of the group, and compounding that, at $178 it was the second-most-expensive tire.

Our subjective comments seemed to back up the midpack performance. Geswein said it felt "dull and disconnected" and that it was "somewhat soft and imprecise when driven hard." Although we didn't test the ride characteristics of this tire, we wondered if its lazy feel was a result of being designed for a compliant ride. If performance is your goal, there are better choices.

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Eighth Place
Toyo Proxes T1R

Toyo says its new T1R has "high-modulus bead apex rubber." You probably don't know what that means, and neither do we. This wasn't much more clear: "Spiral-wound, jointless edge and capplies." If this test were based on no comprendo engineer-speak, Toyo would win.

In fact, the Proxes never placed higher than eighth in any test, and in two dry tests, the autocross and the skidpad, the Toyo finished last, trailing the top finishers by significant margins. In some tests it felt better than it actually was performing, but overall, Geswein noted it was "soft and imprecise" and didn't "feel like a sport tire."

In the end, the Toyo has its high wear grade (280) and attractive price ($135) to thank for its eighth-place finish. In performance terms, there are lots of tires that do better. Perhaps a new set of "capplies" would help.

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Seventh Place
Pirelli P Zero Rosso Asimmetrico

With this Pirelli's seventh-place finish, we come now to the first of the midpack tires, which never excelled, but neither did they fall on their faces.

The Pirelli did flub two tests, which is why it lands farthest down in this group. In the dry-lateral-grip test, the Pirelli tied for second to last, and it finished seventh in the dry-braking test. Otherwise, it staked out the middle ground: not offending our enthusiast sensibilities but not knocking our socks off, either.

The Pirelli didn't move us to fill our notebooks with comments. Geswein noted there was "nothing particularly strong or weak" in its performance. We did notice it was easy to drive in the wet because it smoothly straddled the transition zone between sliding and gripping. When some tires—the Kumhos come to mind—begin to slide on wet surfaces, they really slide, but that wasn't the case with the Pirellis.

A week after our testing, Pirelli called to say there's a different version of the Asimmetrico that would have performed better. This version is noted by a hard-to-see "MO" that's embossed on the sidewall (it stands for "Mercedes spec," identifying the line of cars it was designed for), and it uses a different compound than the one we tested.

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Sixth Place
Dunlop SP Sport Maxx

The Dunlop surpassed the Pirelli's overall score by just 0.1 point, an amazingly close finish of 1100 possible points.

The Dunlop performed better in most test categories than the Pirelli. We thought it was a fairly satisfying tire to drive in that it provided good road feedback and scored higher in the wet tests than in the dry. In the water, the Dunlop had a "proper combination of direct feel and firmness," Geswein noted. But in the dry, the tire seemed to lose its confidence and lost some of the crispness we appreciated in the wet.

So it's a slightly better wet tire but isn't stellar anywhere. The Dunlop was the only tire here that had its company name imprinted on the tread, which might score style points with some.

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Fifth Place
Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212

The Hankook has one feature the other tires can't match—a $99 price. And to its credit, the Hankook didn't behave like the cheapest tire, particularly when the track was dry. It tied the $175 Yokohama and $145 Goodyear for second place in lateral grip, scoring 0.94 g. And although its dry-braking results landed it in last place, that shortcoming did not greatly affect the Hankook's dry-autocross showing—a 29.86-second average, a third-place result that was only 0.20 second away from the winning effort.

It became apparent that the Hankook was clearly tuned for dry running as its wet-track results were below average. Like the other poor runners in water, the Hankook felt greasy and was slow to recover once it broke traction. But in the dry, the Korean tire felt just as responsive and sticky as its more-expensive competition.

The thing is, though, the harder you drive, the more tread you'll burn off a tire. So if you're a track-day addict who doesn't mind sacrificing some wet-weather capabilities, the Hankook is a choice that will save you money without losing much performance.

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Fourth Place
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2

Ever since we first experienced the PS2 in 2004, we suspected it was a better-than-average performer. We were right.

It placed in the top half of every test and finished second in both wet and dry braking, an impressive display of this tire's all-around competence.

Perhaps the most interesting revelation was how similar the tire felt in water and on dry pavement. Regardless of the level, the PS2 provided crisp turn-in response and a gradual loss of grip as the driver exceeded the tire's cornering capabilities.

Michelin says the PS2's tread is composed of two different compounds. The outer two-thirds of the tread has a rubber compound that's biased to provide good dry traction; the inner third has a different compound that's skewed toward wet traction.

That performance will cost you. At $179, the PS2 is the most expensive tire in the test. A set of these Michelins would run $716, or almost double what four Hankooks go for. Is it worth it? How important is all-around performance to you?

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Third Place
Yokohama Advan Neova AD07

On dry pavement, the Yokohama tires put the BMW cars in a position to go fastest through our tests. Check the results. With the Yokos at all corners, the BMW was fastest on the dry autocross, and they provided the shortest stopping distance by a significant margin.

Geswein knew the Yoko was a grippy tire before its results were posted. "Grip is way up," he commented after a run. He also noted that grip level stayed consistent even when the tire was sliding. In the dry, it performed a lot like the BFGoodrich, but the Yokohama is also pretty good in the wet.

Of all the tires, Geswein thought the Yokohama and the BFG g-Force rewarded aggressive driving because the two had a wide plateau of grip versus slip angle. That means if you enter a corner a little too fast and begin sliding, the Yokohama recovers quickly and in some sense covers up your mistakes.

The behavior in the wet was a little more toward the slippery end of the scale, but we could push the Yokohama hard and not feel as if we were on the verge of a sudden spinout. This combination of outstanding dry performance and more-than-passable wet performance makes the Yokohama a very alluring product. If you're looking to cut the quickest lap times while using a street tire, this is the one to have. Bring money: They're $175 apiece.

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Second Place
Continental ContiSportContact 2

When we tabulated the results and found the Continental in second place, we went back and checked our math. During three days of testing, our subjective impressions didn't lead us to believe that the Continental was a second-place tire, but when we added the scores, that's where it landed.

It simply didn't feel as sporty as some of the other performers—the Yokohama and the Michelin, for two—but thanks in part to the wide channels in its treads that shed water well, this tire was very good in the wet, placing second in the wet autocross test and skidpad measurements.

On dry surfaces, the Conti never rose above third from last among 11 tires. It felt soft and imprecise, two qualities not in the vocabularies of performance tires. Geswein grouped it with the other "dull and disconnected" tires.

So how, then, did it land in second place? There simply weren't huge gaps in the percentage differences among all the tires in dry situations. For example, the last-place tire was within 10 percent of the best tire. But in the wet, the spread from best to worst was 15 percent, which made for a larger point spread. Plus, the Continental had a 280 tread-wear grade that was the highest for this test, and its $146 price was a few dollars below the average cost.

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First Place
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3

As an all-around high-performance tire, you can't beat this Goodyear. It was the best performer in all three wet-track tests and was very competent in the dry. It generated 0.94 g on the dry skidpad, only 0.01 g off the first-place BFGoodrich and tied with the Yokohama and Hankook.

The Goodyear gripped so well that you might not have been certain the road was wet, and it lost traction in a gentle, predictable manner. It held onto the wet track with 0.82 g of stick, an impressive figure considering the worst tire in that test made only 0.67 g.

The Eagle F1 got a lot of favorable comments. In the wet, Geswein called it "direct"—a way of saying the tire provided clear signals about its contact with the pavement.

There were tires that performed better in the dry, but the Eagle wasn't far off. It was a little less precise than the BFG and Yokohama on a dry track, but not by much. And like the Continental, the Goodyear had a high 280 tread-wear grade. At $145 each, it's $34 cheaper than the most expensive tire here.

One thing to keep in mind about the imprints we carefully obtained is that a tire's contact patch changes dramatically as it is loaded, so these prints are not accurate representations of the amount of rubber that each tire puts on the road while cornering or braking.